He's been ill most of the season. Who's to say he won't still be battling this sickness next month? How much solid GOOD training is he expected to have? Shouldn't he be trying to fully recover. He's lost weight because of it. I dunno, if I were Johnny I'd kinda be relieved I wasn't being called to skate anytime soon.

Yeah, but he very well could be by then. I don't know why they can't just have a committee decide a couple weeks beforehand.

Originally Posted by Eevun

I don't think that's fair to either of the skaters. They need time to prepare.

I think that is the main point - you can't have skaters prepare themselves for international championships on two weeks notice. Whether or you not argue - fine well all skaters being considered for it should train as if they are going, that doesn't work as well as knowing that you are going, and adds to teh crushing disappontment if you don't get to go. And again you're stil left asking - who would be involved in the test skate? Johnny and Mroz? Johnny, Mroz and Lysacek? Jeremy too? If so then surely the 4th placed man (sorry his name doesn't immediately spring to my mind) should have a go too?

I think many of the Johnny lovers are missing the point. Yeah, of course everybody wanted to send Johnny, Evan and another talented skater like Jeremy to worlds. They would have easily wrapped up 3 spots for us for the olympics. Things just didn't work out that way. In Japan, they look at "the whole season" in the U.S, we look at mostly Nationals results, unless there is a strange occurrence. The fact of the matter is that there is no reason NOT to send Mroz, and no reason not to send Evan. I don't think anybody would think of cutting Jeremy from the World team! We can't instantly create a 4th spot just because a great skater did skate so great. We would all love to have that, but we can't. Each country can only send 3 skaters to worlds, max.

Evan might not have secured THIS year's three spots... but he and Johnny TOGETHER have kept three spots... it's not like Evan's this huge failure.

Evan hasn't medaled in the worlds since 2006. He didn't qualify for the GPF and he placed 3rd in the nationals and is currently ranked 6th in the world by the ISU. Johnny medaled last year, placed 3rd in the GPF and is currently ranked 4th in the world by the ISU. Based on consistency and results from the past year, Weir should have been named to the team. He earned that spot for the country and for himself. That B&A were named to the team despite a nagging injury and not Weir is positively hypocritical.

Edit: Another inconsistency---check out the official announcement from the USFSA. Stephen Carriere was named as 3rd alternate after Bradley. He placed 9th at the nationals this year . They bumped three other skaters (Oi, Rippon, Pennington) solely because of Carriere's past results. The reasoning behind Carriere's selection for some strange reason was not used for Johnny Weir.

Because they didn't even compete. They said from the beginning that they are still struggling with injuries - and then asked politely for a bye to Worlds.

Could Weir have done the same? I don't know, a month-old stomach flu - that was cured fast enough to allow him to fly back home quickly - doesn't seem to be such a great reason. Of course you lose some weight, but perhaps you need to make sure that a weight loss is compensated in 2 weeks time, and doesn't throw you off-balance for over a month (read: live a bit healthier to begin with)!

Trankov got this flu/poisoning thing at the GPF, was really off at Russian Nationals, he lost 6kg because of the flu ("I've lost 6 kilograms since the Grand Prix Final in Korea," explained Trankov. "It's a funny feeling. I never felt so light. Everything is so easy now. I am just not accustomed to it.") - but at Europeans he was back to form, landing every jump. But of course Trankov looks as if his eating habits are relatively normal to begin with.

Weir went to Nationals. He obviously thought that he was competitive enough. He said before Nationals that he wasn't at his very best - but that it wasn't bad either. He skated, he messed up, he didn't medal and consequently lost his spot on the World Team. And that's it. It's no different in real life. You can't say "I was ill" after you failed an exam and expect to be given another chance / more chances than the others.

I always loved Johnny's skating and his brash interviews; but honestly, he should have accepted the result and never have said anything - it seems very egoistic and unsportsmanlike. He basically said that one of the three podium skaters should be left of the team, because he, what, had a bad day? That's not their fault. It's certainly not Mroz fault and he should get what he earned in a glorious manner: a spot on the team. Same goes for Lysacek. I was amazed how he pulled off those clean Triples in his program towards the end, after that really shaky start - at the end he still managed to do an 8 Triples performance.

Great post, Medusa! Johnny does seem to have rather unhealthy eating habits, which might have exacerbated the effects of the flu.

The three podium finishers earned their spots. Rules differ by country; Russia only guarantees the spot for the Nationals winner, with all the rest being up to the federation. American system is different. And, BTW, Tanith and Ben will still have to prove to the federation that they are back up to form.

Evan hasn't medaled in the worlds since 2006. He didn't qualify for the GPF and he placed 3rd in the nationals and is currently ranked 6th in the world by the ISU.

wow, for sucking it up so badly he certainly isn't *that* far down in the standing. And considering he DIDN'T go to worlds last year and he's still only two spots below Weir? Doesn't really suggest his being named to the world team is a fluke. please!

Of course he didn't say "Kick Mroz out, I want in". But he said that he hopes that he can still go to Worlds and asked the association to consider all the results this season and the one before. Which is basically asking them to kick one of the podium skaters out.

Originally Posted by icenetwork

"You should fight for your place on the world team," he said. "At the same time, I'm the only American man to win three medals on the Grand Prix this season; I'm ranked fourth in the world. I hope the [selection] committee understands my circumstances coming into this championship."